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In effect, as Conservative Senate leader Marjory LeBreton explained to reporters Thursday, senators are deemed to live wherever they say they live — at least for the purpose of collecting their $132,300 sessional salaries.

But for purpose of collecting housing allowances, these same senators will have to provide real proof, such as a driver’s licence.

That puts someone like Sen. Mike Duffy in a bizarre position. Duffy has acknowledged that he doesn’t live in Prince Edward Island, the province he was appointed to represent. That’s why he’s repaying more than $42,000 in housing allowances that he received to defray the costs of his suburban Ottawa home (which, Duffy admits, is where he actually does live).

Whoops! When the Senate leadership went after the former television reporter for his expense accounts, they didn’t mean to open that particular can of worms.

So their solution is to say that, yes, Duffy lives in P.E.I. because he said so when the current Parliament began two years ago.

But no, he appears not to live in P.E.I. and therefore may not be eligible for any housing allowances received. His expense accounts have been put to external auditors for investigation.

How can he be a resident and non-resident at the same time? In the world most of us inhabit, he cannot. Only in theoretical physics and the parallel universe that is the Senate is such a thing possible.

Legally, the residency issue seems straightforward. Under the Constitution Act, a senator must own real estate worth $4,000 in the province he represents. But property alone is not sufficient. A senator must also be “resident in the province for which he is appointed.”

Senators who lose that residency status are deemed, with limited exceptions, to have vacated their seats in the upper chamber. Ditto if they obtain dual nationality, go bankrupt or commit treason. The Constitution is crystal clear on this.

It is not, however, clear on what the term “resident” means.

Constitutional expert Ned Franks says the solution is to have both houses of Parliament agree on a reasonable definition of residency.

“Would I be qualified to be a senator from B.C. just because I owned a cottage there?” the Kingston, Ont. political scientist says, laughing.

But that is not what Parliament has done. Instead, Senate leaders issued a directive, obtained by the Star, advising members of the upper house to keep their mouths shut.

“There will be no further comment as we don’t want to interfere in the process,” read talking points issued by Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, a former press aide to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

As for the fundamental question of residency, LeBreton says a senator’s word, as expressed in a “declaration of qualification,” is proof enough.

In that signed declaration, each senator testifies at the beginning of each new Parliament that he is “by law duly qualified” to sit in the upper chamber — that is, that he meets all the constitutional tests, including residency.

As well, each attests that he owns $4,000 worth of property in the province he has been appointed to represent.

But if we are to take Duffy’s word that he is a resident of P.E.I., why is his housing allowance — an allowance legally available to senators who live more than 100 kilometres from Ottawa — under question?

If I were Duffy (who, incidentally, is not a horrible person) I’d be ticked. Either he is a P.E.I. resident or he is not. If he is, his Senate buddies should get off his case. If he’s not . . . well, that’s the question few senators want to address.

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